Children growing up now have great fun and learning experiences with new technology such as iPads, Galaxies, Whatsapp, Skype, etc. But, alarmingly, they are missing out on a whole range of learning, social interaction, physical activities, and emotional intelligence skills. Let me tell you what has happened to these children. You cannot say you were not warned!Kids are not playing outside anymore
More and more children are playing inside and are attached to their devices, computers, and video games. When last you see kids playing on the street or in front of your home? Yes, ‘security’ is not as robust as before, but that is an area where parents can get involved…put an eye out for your kid.

Kids are not learning through face-to-face interaction
How does a baby learn to express and judge emotion? How do they start to learn language? They do it by watching their parents’ facial expressions and they begin to become social creatures, acquiring essential skills which will be vital when they start playgroups and schools. But guess what is happening? The parents are increasingly absorbed in their electronic devices and cannot be bothered to even look, smile or coo at their own children! Watch parents in a café and you will see what I mean.

Parent-kid relationships are negatively affected

The digital parents are opting out of parenting and this is unfair to the children. The use of devices was also having a very bad effect on the way the parents actually interacted with their children. There was a lot of negative, harsh interaction when it actually took place. It also made parents more cranky.

Kids’ reading ability may be affected
There is not much research on this. But one initial study suggests that a child’s reading comprehension could be negatively affected. Their study showed that the kids who read “paper books” were better at comprehension than those who were using only e-books. Kids on e-books were inclined to skip the text and concentrate on all the interactive visual features such as popups. The best solution would be to encourage kids to read more paper books.

Kids have never played board games
Kids are online most of the time. Whatever happened to those board games? Look at all the benefits a child gets, when you play together:
• Child learns vocabulary, counting, math, reading, etc.
• You can bond with him or her
• Child learns about turn-taking, winning and losing
• She or he can gain confidence, builds self esteem
• Satisfies competitive urges
• Increases attention span and focus
• Helps concentration

While many games and apps on smartphones are also good at building some learning skills, they can never replace the human interaction.

Kids do not know what real friendship means
When we grew up, we had friends, real friends. Virtual friends did not exist. Look at today’s teens who can count up to a few hundred friends on Facebook. The problem is that they have never seen most of them and they only know them very superficially through a virtual friend of a friend. Staying connected is great and today’s teens send an average of 3,000 texts a month.

Kids are losing their creativity
Trevor Baylis, the famous inventor of the ‘wind up radio’, fears that children are not getting the hands-on experience that he got when he was a boy. This is affecting their creativity. He learned about putting things together by playing with a Meccano set or by building model airplanes and so on. Few kids now never get their hands on games like this. Everything is done for them.

Kids are not learning empathy
Being tolerant, caring and controlling your emotions are life skills that will serve you well. But the digital era kids are not learning any of these skills at all. You cannot empathise with a device, at least, not yet! The best way is to play with other kids and to learn about sharing, turn-taking and giving. No, I don’t think there’s an app for that yet!

Kids are getting no input on values and attitudes
The lack of real social interaction with parents and peers means that there is less and less time spent on teaching core values such as tolerance, kindness, honesty, diligence and respect. The devices are great for some learning activities but the parent-child relationship is becoming tenuous.

Kids are losing sleep
Children may lose track of time while they are online. This has serious consequences for doing household tasks and chores. It also affects their mood and they become irritable when they are forced to switch off. One of the most serious aspects is loss of sleep because this impacts on schoolwork the following day.

Kids need supervision
Parents should be on the alert for any sort of online addiction. They themselves have to set the example and make sure that there is a balance between more traditional games and online activities. A happy balance can be achieved with these tips:
• Use Skype together to bond with grandparents
• Play video games together
• Negotiate digital break times where both parents and kids switch off all devices
• Encourage outdoor activities when possible
• Digital media is here to stay.

They are great learning and entertainment tools but they need to be used with caution and not at the expense of real face-to-face interaction.